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Post by Michael Sloyan on Apr 11, 2008 17:31:41 GMT
I live in Sutton Coldfield and have a small bungalow that is on a corner plot which is mainly east facing. I am looking for ideas to make the best of the limited (morning ) sunshine but at the same time make the garden as colourful as possible.
I welcome any tips or advice.
Best wishes,
Michael
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Post by loutigger on Apr 13, 2008 19:40:03 GMT
hello! cant really advise save maybe sunflowers as theyd grow big enough to find the sun? violets like shade and are pretty, but small, erm?? sorry bit of a novice but am saying hi 2 everyone as nobody seems to like to reply/say hi 2 anyone! hope you dont mind! lou x
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Post by mifflto on Apr 13, 2008 19:59:30 GMT
Hi Michael, My front garden consists of a 1m strip of east facing border at the bottom of a hedge, so anything that can grow there should hopefully work for you! Bulbs, forgetmenots and cranesbill geraniums seem to do well anywhere, but I also have lamium (also called ornamental nettle or deadnettle) - you can get various colours but mine is silver-leafed with green edging, and has bright purple flowers just starting now that will last til the end of summer. It is low-growing (a few inches) but spreads and is great as ground cover as the silver leaves look great in the shade, and make any other colours around (including their own flowers) look extra zingy! Also its easy to take cuttings from and ones I've planted a foot apart have practically joined up in a year or two. I also have a lavatera (tree mallow - usually pink) growing there - it grows more slowly in the shade but i think that is a good thing as the one I have in the sun in the back garden keeps trying to take over the world! A great alternative is the malva type of mallow - mine has white flowers and grows to 2-3', so more manageable than a lavatera if it were to take off. On my east facing wall in the back garden I have winter jasmine climbing the wall giving yellow flowers in early spring. They have just finished but not before the kerria japonica came out - I think with the combination of these two up the wall I have one or the other being green all year round and yellow flowers from December to May. I have some cornus (dogwood) with strong red stems all year round (about 5') and pale yellowish leaves and flowers that look beautiful with the sun slanting through them - very easy to manage, I just cut a few of the stems to the ground each year so it renews itself and doesn't get too thick stemmed. Also my current favourite plant is astilbe - big feathery upright plumes of flowers all summer (about 2' and various colours - mine are dusky pink) from a nest of nice-shaped leaves. A herbaceous plant that dies down for the winter (so can just chop it all to the ground when it fades). I am sure it flowered til Oct-Nov last year! It is just coming up again now so should flower by June. Another favourite is the purple-leaved varieties of heuchera. They have quite weak flower stems with feathery sprays of flowers on top (1 to 2'), but the leaves themselves are so spectacular you don't really need flowers anyway! And mine seem fine in shade - maybe they need less sun to make the purple leaves than the green! And the dark purple foliage looks great with pink flowers such as the astilbe above Really most things woodland should grow there as they like a certain amount of shade and tend to die back in winter so they can't get killed by frost. Maybe some pots of winter pansies could take up the slack over the winter? I hope there's something in there you can use. It turned into a bit of a deluge, didn't it? I'm still a bit over-enthusiastic about this site, me-thinks! Good luck, Sarah
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Post by Michael Sloyan on Apr 15, 2008 19:59:17 GMT
Thank you for all that wonderful advice Sarah.
I will look into the RHS website for images of each of the plant you mention... thanks for giving me a head start!
Michael
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